TSA agents are getting paid again. One union leader says it's not enough

0:00Borzou Daragahi:Support for Here and Now Anytime comes from MathWorks, creator of MATLAB and Simulink software for technical computing and model-based design. MathWorks, accelerating the pace of discovery in engineering and science. Learn more at mathworks.com. WBUR Podcasts, Boston.

0:21Aaron Barker:President Trump has said he has the emergency authority to spend money for TSA. And the question I have is, why didn't he use that 45 days ago? TSA agents are finally getting paid.

0:45Aaron Barker:It's Monday, March 30th, and this is Here and Now Anytime from NPR and WBUR Boston. I'm Chico Theoui. Today on the show, Israel expands its invasion of Lebanon and now faces missile attacks from Houthis in Yemen. And College Decision Day is right around the corner. We've got tips on how you can save for that four-year degree.

1:15Aaron Barker:But first, TSA workers are getting their first paycheck in weeks. They've gone more than 40 days of working without pay during the ongoing partial government shutdown. Here's border czar Tom Homan speaking on CNN on Sunday. There is a plan to get these TSA agents pay, hopefully by tomorrow, Tuesday. So, yeah, it's good news because these TSA officers are struggling. Congress just adjourned for two weeks without approving a bill to end the shutdown. But President Trump ordered the Department of Homeland Security to find the money to pay TSA workers. It's unclear how quickly this will solve the extremely slow security lines that we've been seeing at major airports across the country.

1:57Aaron Barker:Aaron Barker is a TSA officer and president of AFGE Local 554, which represents TSA workers across Georgia airports. He tells Peter O'Dowd that he was both relieved and surprised by what he saw in his bank account today.

2:12Borzou Daragahi:It's still not the full pay. So officers are expecting, were expecting to have their full back pay and that did not happen. Oh, so you're OK. So you haven't been getting paid for 40 something days and you're saying you haven't gotten the back pay. How much was it? Was it just one pay period or what? So it was two pay periods and we're owed two and a half pay periods. Do you know if you're going to get paid next pay period? I mean, has anyone told you that? So that's the big question right now. We're trying to figure out AFGE lawyers are trying to go through the executive order to see and find out exactly what it means.

2:50Borzou Daragahi:We're unclear on that right now. But as it stands, the messaging that has come out, it was just for pay period three, four and five that was mentioned. It did have some stuff in there about funding, but I'm not sure if it will continue on. How much of a financial burden has this been for you and your fellow agents over the last few weeks? It's been extremely hard. You know, Rob and Peter to pay Paul. I actually just got a message this morning from a loan that I had taken out that I'm 15 days past due. You know, rent is due, car notes due, insurance is due. I mean, it's very burdensome, you know, when you have people who are trying to do the right thing, you know, go to work and stay committed to the oath that, you know, we took as public servants.

3:33Borzou Daragahi:It's really hard to, you know, go throughout the day knowing that this is still going on. What are you going to do with some of that money that landed in your bank account today? It's already accounted for. Rent, car note, and light bill. Those are the big things that need to be paid immediately. Yeah. Your union is asking for a$10 ,000 bonus for all TSA workers across the country. Why? Would that repair some of the trust that's been lost between workers and the federal government? Well, I don't know about the trust piece of it, but it would make officers whole because some sort of whole anyway.

4:08Borzou Daragahi:You know, we've had a lot of officers that have been evicted. Their cars have been repossessed. You have the negative impacts, late fees and all of those things. Those numbers pile up. So that$10 ,000 would assist in recouping some of the things that have negatively impacted their finances in their life. Tom Homan said yesterday that ICE agents could remain at airports for a while longer, even after the TSA agents are paid. What do you think about that? Have they been helpful? No, they haven't helped at all. Actually, you're taking away a certified officer to train someone who is not supposed to be there.

4:44Borzou Daragahi:It's really bothering me and it's bothering a lot of my officers. One, you know, there's this whole narrative that we have all of these illegal people committing crimes and this, that and the third. And you have hired all these ICE agents, but now they're not even doing the job they were hired for. So is there really a need? You know, they have put them into the airports and they're not really assisting there. So I hope that they don't because they're not certified. It's not anything personal to them, but it's just the way the administration is utilizing their agency to maneuver whatever they have going on.

5:20Borzou Daragahi:And it's making it hard for TSA officers. Just to play devil's advocate here, though, about 500 TSA agents have quit since this all started. How are you going to fill the gap otherwise? Get those lines back to normal and make sure the airports are safe. We're talking about 60 ,000 plus TSA officers across the country, which means that the majority of TSA officers are still committed. They have not quit. So that's a small drop in the bucket, in my opinion. After all this, we've been talking about long lines and people are so stressed at the airport. Agents are quitting, calling in sick, missing paychecks.

5:56Borzou Daragahi:I think one of the fundamental questions here is whether or not the airports are safe. Do you think that we should be able to trust the security at this point when we go to the airport and board a plane? I do think that you can trust on TSA officers, the ones that are showing up. But I do think that the mental stress that is upon TSA officers is heavy. And it does make you question, you know, the safety. You know, if someone is that distracted by what's going on outside, are they 100 percent focused on the job? But for the most part, officers are still holding on and doing what they can do. If this does continue to go on, I think that Congress is playing a dangerous game with the lives of the American traveling public.

6:40Borzou Daragahi:Aaron Barker is a president of the local union representing TSA officers in Georgia. Aaron, thank you. Thank you, Peter. It was good talking with you.

6:51Aaron Barker:Coming up next, the war in the Middle East widens even more. Stay with us.

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8:58Aaron Barker:Israel's war in southern Lebanon is expanding. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that ground troops will further expand operations there. Israel invaded southern Lebanon when Iran-backed Hezbollah launched attacks on Israel in retaliation for the U.S. and Israel's war on Iran that began in late February. Since then, at least 1 million people have been displaced in Lebanon and more than 1 ,200 people have been killed, according to Lebanese officials. This all comes as President Trump once again threatens Iran with the destruction of its power plants and water and energy infrastructure if diplomatic talks don't lead to an agreement.

9:36Aaron Barker:Borzu Dergahi is a journalist who covers the Middle East, and he joined Scott Tong with the latest.

9:41Borzou Daragahi:This is the second front in Israel's war with Iran. It's striking Iran directly and Iranian Bakhtas Bullah in Lebanon. In the past month, what has Israel's invasion there looked like? I think it's just been devastating to the Lebanese infrastructure. They have launched airstrikes and artillery targeting alleged Hezbollah strongholds, but also leveling certain villages in southern Lebanon and in the southern suburbs of Beirut, the Dahia, as it's called, where Hezbollah has its kind of huge presence there. And it looks very ugly. You know, they've also destroyed many of the bridges. As a matter of fact, reportedly all of the bridges that connect Lebanon to southern Lebanon via the Litani River.

10:31Borzou Daragahi:And that has caused a lot of hardship for people. And now Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel says he wants to expand what he calls a security belt in southern Lebanon. What could an expansion look like? You know, it's not exactly clear what it could look like. They are talking about seizing or controlling all of the territory south of the Litani River, and that is a lot of people who live there. Already, as you mentioned, there's been a million people displaced. I think there are still some people in this area, but I think that one of the things that Netanyahu is seeking to do is to exact retribution for some of the battlefield failures over the weekend.

11:13Borzou Daragahi:There was reports of a number of Merkava Israeli tanks destroyed by Hezbollah. Names of casualties are slowly trickling out from the Israeli offensive as well. And what is Israel's case, broad case, for doing this? Well, I think that they want to stop Lebanese Hezbollah, which is a strong ally of Iran, of using this war as a way of kind of hitting northern Israel and distracting it from its main goal, which is Iran. They're basically thinking of Lebanon and Hezbollah as another front in their war against Iran. Another interesting development is Yemen's Houthis, which have also entered the fray, launching missiles at southern Israel over the weekend.

11:59Borzou Daragahi:If they enter the conflict, that'll even make the battlefield dynamics even more complicated. Yeah. The Secretary General of the UN, Antonio Guterres, worries Israel could attack, could flatten southern Lebanon the way it pummeled Gaza in the last two years plus. He said, quote, the Gaza model must not be replicated. Are there any similarities here? Well, I think there is. There is a sort of no-holds-barred quality to the attacks. There does seem to be some allegations that whole villages in the south of Lebanon, including Christian villages that probably have nothing to do with Hezbollah, are being destroyed.

12:39Borzou Daragahi:There's reports of Christian artifacts and holy sites being destroyed as well, as well as mosques, educational institutions, clinics, and so on. And so that is the problem is making these areas uninhabitable, unlivable. And that feeds into allegations that Israel is trying to expand its territory by creating this sort of greater Israel model where they take nearby territories. Borzu, have you spoken directly to people in Lebanon in recent days? Yeah, I have. And there's just a lot of concern. A lot of people are displaced and living on the streets of the cities that are not affected, including Beirut.

13:21Borzou Daragahi:A lot of people are trying to figure out ways of getting out of the country. There's a lot of concern. Up until now, there's still flights in and out of Beirut, the only international airport in the country. And there's a lot of concern that that airport could be closed and people will be trapped. And there's a lot of worry that the expansion of the war could include non-Hezbollah areas as well. Yeah. And Borsi, let me ask you what this could mean for Hezbollah. I mean, it has been weakened even before these latest strikes. Two years ago, Israel killed its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and other leaders by blowing up their pagers.

13:55Borzou Daragahi:Do these new strikes further weaken Hezbollah or perhaps embolden its supporters in Lebanon? I think the strikes weaken it, but the ground invasion is somewhat, and this might be a controversial take, it's somewhat of a gift to Hezbollah because this feeds into their narrative that there's never any peace possible with Israel, that it's this land-grabbing entity that wants to expand. And by launching this ground invasion and expanding it, it will rally people of Lebanon around it. That is my prediction. That's Borzu Deragahi, longtime journalist in the Middle East, longtime contributor to our program.

14:33Borzou Daragahi:Borzu, thank you again. It's been a pleasure.

14:38Aaron Barker:Coming up, is a four-year degree still worth it? We break down the cost-benefit after the break.

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15:10Aaron Barker:It's almost April, and if it'll be anything like this month, it'll fly by. And by then, it'll be time for high school seniors and their parents to make decisions about college. May 1st is commonly known as National College Decision Day, when students have to submit a deposit to secure their spot in the incoming freshman class. Jill Schlesinger, CBS News business analyst and host of Jill on Money, joins Peter to talk about the ways you can save for that first deposit and a four-year degree. Oh, this is a tough one. Everyone grab a little air mask. We're going to need to breathe heavily together.

15:44Borzou Daragahi:Well, I am afraid to ask. How much does it cost to get a four-year degree these days?

15:48Aaron Barker:Well, I'm going to give you the sticker price. So without any adjustments. So it's about almost$31 ,000 if you're going to an in-state public four-year school and you're a resident of that state. If you're choosing to go to a state school in another state, it's going to cost you more than 50 grand. and a private nonprofit four-year degree is costing just about$65 ,000, although I just heard this morning that some schools are kind of inching towards$100 ,000 a year all in. Oh, my gosh.

16:21Borzou Daragahi:I know. So what? What do we do? What do we do about that? How do you recommend people prepare for that sticker shock?

16:27Aaron Barker:Well, I think the first thing to know is that a lot of the award letters that go out are very confusing, especially if you're the first person in your family going to college and you're not used to this. I mean, you really need to clarify what is free money and what is a loan. There have been many cases where people think they're getting a grant, and it's not the grant. It's actually a loan. So first and foremost, really go through this. If you have a question, call the university or the college to say, hey, I just want to make sure I understand it. Hey, while you're on the phone, why not also say, is there any way that you can improve this offer?

17:04Aaron Barker:You don't have to be a jerk about it. Yeah, it's incredible. It works a lot more than you think. It also works in graduate schools. So I know that many cases of law students who have done this, you're not going to be a jerk. You're going to be really respectful and say, hey, I really want to go here. Do it only with your number one choice. Don't go crazy. And say to them, I have other availability, but I just can't afford this nut that you've presented to me. And often, not every time, but often, they will come back with more money, sometimes significant money, like$15 ,000,$20 ,000 that you may not have expected.

17:37Wow.

17:38Borzou Daragahi:Well, okay, that sounds fantastic. But let's say you have to borrow money, get a loan. Most people do. How much is too much? Is there a number out there?

17:47Aaron Barker:A college funding expert a while back gave me this guideline. I think it's really smart. And that is that if you're the student, it's best to keep your borrowing for four years below what you think you'll earn your first year out. Now, this is very easily attainable information, but let's just say you think you're going to earn around 50 grand coming out of school, all borrowing for four years, less than 50 grand. If you're the parent, a separate guideline here for all of your kids, borrowing for everyone, including co-signing loans, please try to keep that below your annual household income. You're in$120 ,000 as a family.

18:26Aaron Barker:No going crazy and borrowing$200 ,000. Please. These are ways to keep you out of trouble.

18:32Borzou Daragahi:Well, and you may feel tempted to do that because you want to do the best you can for your kids, right? Yeah.